The One With The Gargantuan Task

[schiz0id 0]

Cool! Hope all goes well

Thanks pebbles! Hoping all goes well too...

[schiz0id 0]

SHOPPING BASKET

Weekend is here. Not much photos to post on progress so shall post the items we have bought so far.

Ariston Hob

Ariston Hood (Opted for slimline for more cabinet space. Mum has to get used to using slimline after having chimney for sooo long )

Ariston Oven (Self-cleaning. Would've opted for the one with digital display but double the price of this! )

Will post more as the shopping basket gets fuller!

[starbux 0]

Hello. Wow progressing very well. Where did you buy ariston? I just went to harvey norman and they were selling mostly bosch electrolux. Din see ariston. Care to share how much the whole set is? More power on your jumbo.

[starbux 0]

Oh yeah, regarding hacking of walls and stuff, how long do you have to wait to get HDBs approval? Can just email them desired floorplan? Or must the ID/contractor be the one to ask permission? Does hacking make the project much more expensive? Sorry got so many questions. Im in the middle of space planning and i dunno if i want to hack or not. Im afraid it will cost more to hack so im incined to keep everything as is. Thanks again.

[schiz0id 0]

Hello. Wow progressing very well. Where did you buy ariston? I just went to harvey norman and they were selling mostly bosch electrolux. Din see ariston. Care to share how much the whole set is? More power on your jumbo.

Hey starbux,

Thanks! We got the Ariston stuff from Mayer. The whole set cost us about $2000. Last week they were having some promotion where they absorbed GST. Not sure if they have any other specials now.

[schiz0id 0]

Oh yeah, regarding hacking of walls and stuff, how long do you have to wait to get HDBs approval? Can just email them desired floorplan? Or must the ID/contractor be the one to ask permission? Does hacking make the project much more expensive? Sorry got so many questions. Im in the middle of space planning and i dunno if i want to hack or not. Im afraid it will cost more to hack so im incined to keep everything as is. Thanks again.

No worries about it. Most happy to share with you what I know.

Usually, HDB can take from 1 working day to 2 weeks (according to the HDB officer I spoke to) to approve the application for hacking works. What I understand is that on average it takes about 4-5 working days if nothing major.

Ours being a jumbo, HDB told me it might take slightly more than 1 week. Eventually, they took about 3 days to approve hacking of floor/wall tiles. 5 days (from appln) to approve hacking of walls. And currently, we have 1 more item still pending - extending the main door. When I called the HDB Technical Officer, he said this one needs a longer time because they have to check if previous owner had bought the access area, thus the wait. We should get approval (or at least some word about the status) next week, according to him.

Usually your contractor will send in the application. It is an online application where floorplans and descriptions will be sent to HDB for approval.

If you are pressed for time, after sending in the application, call the HDB Technical Officer in charge of your unit to check the status. In my case, I spoke to him so often before submitting application and after, that when he picks up the phone and hears my voice, he already knows my block number. Just have to tell him my unit number again since so many reno works going on in that block. I have no choice but to trouble him to check for me (they have an internal system to check status while the letter of approval is being prepared and sent out) cos we are sooo hard up for time. But the uncle (TO) is really a nice guy so I guess i'm lucky

Ours is what they call an "overhaul" - everything that can be hacked, was more or less hacked. We had ALL floor/wall tiles hacked, several walls being torn down, all the door frames removed, etc. Hacking came up to be more than 5% of the total reno works. Hope this helps in your planning.

[archenemy 0]

wah! mammoth task for i-know-who!

good luck with your reno sista!

[starbux 0]

Hi schiz0id, thanks so much for the speedy reply. So around 1 week to get HDB approval. They probably get too many requests since we all love to hack. I guess it also feels good psychologically! Didnt know even hacking floor tile needs their approval?! Hmmm anyway good luck on the extension of door entrance. And thanks to you, i now know that ariston is an expensive brand i prob wont have budget for heehee.

[schiz0id 0]

wah! mammoth task for i-know-who!

good luck with your reno sista!

Hey archenemy,

Great to see you here!

Haha, yesh... our dear fren so far so good. Hope he keeps up with the pace! Will be watching him closely for the next month or so!

[schiz0id 0]

Hi schiz0id, thanks so much for the speedy reply. So around 1 week to get HDB approval. They probably get too many requests since we all love to hack. I guess it also feels good psychologically! Didnt know even hacking floor tile needs their approval?! Hmmm anyway good luck on the extension of door entrance. And thanks to you, i now know that ariston is an expensive brand i prob wont have budget for heehee.

About 1 week on average but some items that need more checks will be a bit longer. As long as you're not doing anything complicated, I guess should be around there.

And yes, it sure feels good seeing the bigger open spaces after the walls come down! I also didn't know about the floor tiles, but I guess the permit is also for the noise? That's why they limit to 3 days each time.

We had to use up some Mayer vouchers that's why we opted to get Ariston, else I think my mum would've gone with other brands. Our current Teka oven is serving us pretty well. It's more than 6 years old already and still going strong

[schiz0id 0]

TILE SELECTION

Since the tiles have been moved up to the unit and they should be starting tiling next week (hopefully), thought I should post a few pics of the tiles we have selected.

Some pics are better with flash, some without. But the clearest picture will still be when the tiles are all up

Living & Dining - The whitest tile that Hafary has that they still have enough stock of. Can't afford to wait for them to indent

Bedrooms - Wood-lookalike tiles. Would've gone for laminates but was told it's not as scratch-resistant as tiles. So wanted to have the best of both worlds - wood-lookalike homogeneous tiles!

Kitchen - The two that are labelled are floor tiles. Both dry and wet kitchens will have same wall tiles. This particular wall tile was most expensive in the whole selection and is one of our favouritest! If i'm not wrong, they are the biggest slabs too. Tilers love huge slabs, don't have to lay so many!

Whitish (off-whitish?) non-slip floor tiles were chosen for the dry kitchen to create the illusion that the space is bigger cos our living & dining is white too. Initially wanted to use the same tiles as living but decided against it for safety reasons.

Bathroom - These are the wall tiles for the bathrooms. The one on the right is for the "feature wall" (small puny area - not much of a feature )

They did not have the sample tiles for our bathroom floor tiles. 2 of the toilets will have dark brown floor tiles and the other toilet will have dark grey floor tiles.

[sleek 2]

SHOPPING BASKET

Weekend is here. Not much photos to post on progress so shall post the items we have bought so far.

Ariston Hob

Ariston Hood (Opted for slimline for more cabinet space. Mum has to get used to using slimline after having chimney for sooo long )

Ariston Oven (Self-cleaning. Would've opted for the one with digital display but double the price of this! )

Will post more as the shopping basket gets fuller!

you wont regret it since there will be less electronics to get spoilt these old-school dials should technically last you longer than the fancy digital display

[schiz0id 0]

you wont regret it since there will be less electronics to get spoilt these old-school dials should technically last you longer than the fancy digital display

Haha thanks sleek for that!

I must go tell mum... she's quite sad she won't get the digital display cos she says the temperature that she set may not be accurate

[sleek 2]

Haha thanks sleek for that!

I must go tell mum... she's quite sad she won't get the digital display cos she says the temperature that she set may not be accurate

the fancy digital display of my current washing machine is always getting spoilt, caused by just a tiny contact point, and the repairman from the company that brings in these washing machines say that it is a common problem. so tell your mum not to fret and soon all can enjoy her goodies from her lovely new oven

The feedback from my tiler when we were discussing some other tiling issues was he would prefer smaller tiles for kitchen and bathroom floor tiles as those are easier to lay for the slight sloping gradient for water to drain. LOL he shook his head and said in hokkien too big when he asked us if those were our kitchen and bathroom tiles (we chose the 30x 60 rectangle tiles). oh well, it's a good way to test his skill!

[silversurf 0]

hey schizoid, nice kitchen wall tiles there yeah can't agree more, best result is when ALL tiles are up!

haha sleek, thanks for the tip! it is sooo true what you said about the fancy digital display. can save money now without a heavy heart! will opt for the retro knobs next time!